Update: Air 1 searches for missing Whitby jogger Jeffrey Boucher

Boucher Shoe

Ryan Pfeiffer/ Metroland

WHITBY -- A shoe believed to belong to missing Whitby jogger Jeffrey Boucher has been found on the Lake Ontario shoreline in the vicinity of Heydenshore Pavilion in Whitby, Durham police announced Friday. March 14, 2014.

BW BoucherShore

Bernard Weil

WHITBY -- A police chopper flies along the Whitby shoreline Friday night where a shoe belonging to Jeffrey Boucher was found near Heydenshore Pavilion.

Missing man

Durham Regional Police handout

DURHAM -- Durham Police are seeking the public's assistance to locate a Whitby man missing since early this morning when it is believed he went out for a jog and did not return. Jeffrey Boucher, 52, is described as a white male, six-feet tall, 180 pounds with grey and white short hair. January 13, 2014

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A shoe believed to belong to Mr. Boucher has been found on the Lake Ontario shoreline, in the vicinity of Heydenshore Pavilion in Whitby, Durham police announced Friday. The discovery is likely to jump-start a search effort that was discontinued after a weeks-long effort to find the high school teacher, who went missing Jan. 13.

The shoe was discovered by a woman walking in the area Tuesday, Ms. MacLean said. She alerted police, who are currently surveying the area to determine how best to re-launch the search, likely to begin in earnest next week.

The Air 1 helicopter was scheduled to conduct a sweep of the area Friday evening.

Among the factors to be considered as the search effort is ramped up once again is the safety of officers working along the shoreline, which is still choked with snow and ice, Ms. MacLean said.

The shoe, if it is Mr. Boucher’s, represents the first piece of solid evidence linked to the 52 year old, who is believed to have gone out for an early-morning run on Jan. 13. He hasn’t been seen or heard from since.

Efforts have included an extended and intensive ground search in the vicinity of Mr. Boucher’s Gilchrist Crescent home in the days after he went missing, and a probe of the Lake Ontario shoreline in early February.

The efforts so far have yielded no substantial clues to Mr. Boucher’s whereabouts or what may have happened to him.

Despite the paucity of evidence police have insisted throughout that the investigation remains an active file. Anyone with information is encouraged to call Durham police at 905-579-1520.